HAVING made overt tax increases a no-go area, the government has, of course, to find the money from somewhere for the nurses' big pay rises. It is, therefore, no surprise to find that it is coming out of the NHS itself as Chancellor Gordon Brown raids the special £1 billion fund set up only last July to modernise the health service.
This may not - yet at least - hit front-line patient care in the form of fewer operations or bed closures. But with many hospitals already committed to modernisation projects that cannot be cancelled, the prospect of the pay-rise funding biting as a result into clinical services and of patients suffering cannot be ruled out later in the financial year.
Yet if this is deemed to be one of the harsh realities of the lack of manoeuvre for funding this pay award - one most people agree is deserved and necessary to stem staff shortages on the wards - it is ironic to hear this raid on the NHS's modernisation money being announced just as the availability of ample additional resources is highlighted.
For today we see more than £1 billion being directed at health, education and environment initiatives by the New Opportunities Fund that stems from the government's election pledge to make the Lottery funding more relevant to people. And, indeed, causes such as health, education and the environment are much more "relevant" to most people than the many ridiculous and bizarre projects - such as elitist opera and South American guinea pig farming - that have been showered with millions from the "people's lottery ."
Yet while this departure must be welcomed, its diffidence cannot be. For money from the new fund will not be channelled into front-line services, only into "extras" which, although useful, are not strictly essential.
Thus we see the first target for this extra cash is a network of community-based "healthy living" centres aimed at improving diet, fitness and general health. But would the money not be better spent on hip replacements, heart by-pass operations or extra staff to reduce waiting times at crowded casualty departments?
The government, of course, is much more nervous about raiding the lottery for money than it is about harmfully raiding the NHS's own funding - for fear of being accused of using this revenue for government spending. But why on earth not?
The overwhelming majority of people would see nothing but common sense in the lottery's profits being ploughed directly into hospitals or schools - just as other countries do with these kind of gains.
Tony Blair has put a timid toe in the water with the New Opportunities Fund. He should plunge in properly and give the people's money from the lottery to their hospitals and schools that need it. Then, there would be none of this robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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